Belle in the Library with Logic
by Trisa Slyne
Summary: Belle murders the Beast's preconceptions that he has been enchanted by a kind enchantress with good intentions. Chapter 1 Revised.


**Author's Note: I don't own the rights to Disney's rendition of Beauty and the Beast.**

**Belle in the Library with Logic**

**Chapter 1: Enchantments and Denials **

The grand library in the Beast's castle contained more books than Belle had ever seen before. The books were free of dust or mold and she even noticed a room for rebinding the covers connected off to the side. This library had been the Beast's surprise gift to her. Along with it came the freedom to visit it when she pleased. She was still touched by the kindness behind that. And relieved. She had been so bored in her room without anything to read or do. Now she could come here and read and read and read.

When she had first entered, she had been bombarded by a number of servants willing to find her anything she needed, carry her books around, put back any books she finished with, read out loud to her; she would have been surprised if she had not encountered similar behavior in the kitchen with that welcoming song on her first night there.

They had been about to burst into song before she assured them that it was quite alright. She promised she would not tell Lumière and that she would let them know if she needed anything. They all exhaled relieved breaths and went back to their own hobbies: reading, writing, book clubs. It was highly entertaining to watch a feather pen writing a novel, dancing across the page upright without anyone holding it.

Belle approached a bookshelf and took a few moments to appreciate the beauty of the gold-embossed covers. She almost felt sacrilegious touching them, but books were meant to be read, after all. She lifted a few carefully from the shelf to examine their titles and scan through the first few pages. A number of them were in French, of course, but there were also titles in Latin, Greek, Spanish, and a few she did not recognize. She wondered vaguely if the Beast had tutors. Surely he did. Perhaps they could teach her a new language. Being the daughter of a mediocre merchant had not given her many opportunities to learn as much as she would have liked.

She returned the elegant tomes to their shelves and continued looking around until she came across shelves of less delicate, leather-bound books. From here she gathered a few that had piqued her interest. She settled herself, with a contented sigh, in a chaise by a window so she could read by the sunlight. Clearly, someone had been a book-lover, for the chairs and chaises in this room were of even better quality than those in the dining room. She stroked the material idly, enjoying the softness of it beneath her fingers, before opening the book she had chosen to read first.

A little while later, the door to the library opened. Belle thought it was just Mrs. Potts coming in to offer her a between-meals snack. However, when she looked at the door, she was surprised to see the Beast standing there, rubbing one arm with the other absentmindedly. She laid her book down, open to her page, and made a note to herself of what paragraph she was on before giving Beast a warm smile.

"I saw you reading from outside," he said nervously. "I wanted to come see that you were… enjoying yourself…"

"Would you care to join me?" she asked.

His eyes widened slightly, as if she had asked him to submit himself to some form of torture. "I would love to," he said, slowly, clearly wishing she had asked him to fight more wolves than anything to do with reading. She noted his hesitancy with some amusement.

"Do you enjoy reading?" she asked, allowing herself some small mischief as the servants brought over a large chair for him to sit in.

He opened his mouth and started to nod, but stopped himself. "Not really," he admitted.

She wanted to ask if he remembered how but could not figure out how to formulate such a question in a way that would not be presumptuous or cruel. "Well, would you like me to read to you?"

"That would be... nice," he said as Mrs. Potts rolled in with the tea tray and offered them both snacks and tea.

Belle grabbed the top book from the stack she had set on the nearby side-table, thinking it was _Romeo and Juliet_. She looked at the title and grinned at how much more appropriate this book was; _The Sleeping Beauty_, a supposed fairy tale. Supposed because she could no longer assume that magic, enchantresses, even witches, were just stories anymore. The castle was affected by magic... which begged the question: Why? She looked at Beast again, as if for the first time.

"This story, it's about a princess with an enchantment placed upon her," Belle began, but stopped when the Beast scowled.

At her questioning look, he responded callously, "Then she must've done something to deserve it."

"What did you do to deserve yours?" Belle asked without pause.

"What?" the beast frowned, shifting in his chair. "I'm not... Who told you I was…?" He glared at something behind her. Belle glanced back and found all the servants from earlier frozen in the midst of doing busy work, staring wide-eyed from the Beast to Belle as if to ask what they had done to her to deserve this.

She quickly shifted around told him the same thing she had told Lumière and Cogsworth before. "I figured it out for myself."

The Beast shot one more glower at the servants, as if he didn't quite believe that she had figured out that magic needed to be involved for furniture to talk.

I'm…" he gestured at himself. Then he folded his arms over each other. "I don't want to talk about it," he huffed.

"That's ok," Belle offered. She ran her hands over the spines of the books until she found the one she had been looking for originally. "Let's read this one, then. No enchantments or magic of kind involved. Is that alright with you?"

The Beast's glower lessened somewhat. "I guess."

"Why don't we move to the table so we can eat these hors d'oeuvres first?" Mrs. Potts offered helpfully. "They're the Master's favorites," she prodded. The Beast glanced at the tray but maintained his sour look.

Belle internally rolled her eyes. He could be so stubborn sometimes. "I would love to try your favorites."

The Beast paused a moment, but then nodded. So they moved. Belle was delighted to see that his favorites included quite a few different things from the night before that she had not had the chance to try. One thing she had been able to try was the grey stuff, which Lumière had aptly described as delicious.

As soon as they were able to, the Beast began grabbing numerous hors d'oeuvres in one hand and shoving them violently into his mouth. He chewed quickly and with his mouth open. Belle politely ignored him, selecting some of the ones he had not mauled and placing them on her plate. She took her time, nibbling on the edges of one to try it, then sampling another to compare. She quickly discovered which were her favorites and then ate those, delicately, bite by bite. By the time she had finished two the Beast was already done with five and staring at the rest. Belle grabbed two more then announced that she couldn't possibly eat more than that so why didn't he finish them off? He did, happily.

By the time they were both finished, his temper had improved drastically.

"Would you still like me to read to you?" she asked. He thought a moment then nodded, settling himself back into the chair. Belle smiled and opened the book and began to read _Romeo and Juliet_ aloud. As she read, her mind whirred with all the possibilities. The Beast did not want to tell her what had happened to him, but surely someone in this castle would tell her. She glanced at Mrs. Potts and thought she might just know who could help her.

Maybe, just maybe, Belle could help him lift his enchantment. And maybe then they could both be free.


End file.
